Haircloth fabric and process of making same.



e. s. cox. v HAIRCLOTH FABRIC AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

APPLICATION HLED JULY 20, I915.

Patenfed Mar. H, 1916.

147 7' ORA f X G'QEURGE S. COX, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

namcno'rn FABRIC eunrnocnss or MAKING sane.

niraeii.

Specification of Letters Patent.

.. Patented Mar. id, 1916.

Application filed .Tuly 20, 1915. Serial No. 40,815.

I To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE S. Cox, acitizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county ofPhiladelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Haircloth Fabric andProcesses ofM'aking Same, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference beingbad to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification.

Probably the only objection to the employment of haincloth as astiffener for cloth ing is the tendencyof the individual hairs to workout of the fabric and project through the garment. These projectingendsof,

hair-cloth are unsightly as well as unpleas ant to the touch, and thewearer of the garmentusually pulls out the lengths of, hair whose endsproject. -While this results often in substantial loss of stifiness, themain objection' is usually the oifense to touch and sight beforementioned.

The main object of the invention is to so treat the fabric as toeliminate any tendency of the hairs to work out and at the'same time notdeleteriously adect either the desired stiffness or flexibility of thehair-cloth.

Another object of the invention is to improve, in general, theappearance, quality and efiiciency of the cloth.

The invention is applicable either to cloth view of my improved fabricafter treatment. y

It will be understood that my process is not dependent for its executionupon any particular mechanism and indeed may be carried out, lesseconomically, by hand. It

may also be stated that while thefinished product is capable of fairlyaccurate de-' scription, it can -be illustrated only with someapproximationto' the actual condition,

and Fig- 2. isto be'considered, therefore, as to a certain extent anideal or picture.

diagram of the completed article of'manufa'cture.

Th .ii. hair-cloth fabric, which I.

have elected-to use as an illustration of a fabric to which theinvention may be applied, consists of a plain up and -down weave 1nwhich the warp threads 31 7 are oI cotton and the weft 2 of hair, therebeing one pick of halr in each shed of warp. This fabric, after it iswoven, is caused to travel through a bath of rubber cement. While Iprefer to employ rubber cement, the inventlon is not limited to theemployment of any partlcular composition, and the term cement wherehereinafter used, is intended to include any substance which is capableof being substituted for the rubber cement and which will act in asimilar manner. The receptacle a. for cement is shown at the left-handend'of Fig. 1.

b, b, 6 represent guide rollers for directiisngl the cloth into andthrough the recepac e.

When the cloth emerges from the bath it isjcoated with the cement,which, however,

- has not, perhaps, thoroughly yet permeated the interstices of thefabric; and furthermore, an excess of cement is carried-by the fabric.

through a drier e, which reduces the soft ness and stickiness of thecement, whence the fabric is led through one or, more pairs of rdlls f,f, which have a further consolidating action upon the cement, Theoperation' need not be a continuous one, and I- have indicated this lackof continuity by illustrating "the fabric in dotted lines between therolls f and f; it being understood that, at this point-in the process,the fabric maybe removed and allowed to dry' under natural or artificialconditions for any not too prolonged length of time. By

means of guide rolls g, g, the fabric is then fed, preferably in anupward direction, between a pair of brushes h. These brushes are locatedimmediately below hoppers i, which contain powdered talc, soapstone,sulfur or any other ingredient, preferably in powdered form, that willperform the same function. The brushes It rotate in a direc- The fabric'is therefore passed througha pair of rolls 0, --which may be tionopposite to that of the travel of the cloth and serve to cover thecementitious surface of the cloth with a thin coating of the powder.Beyondthe upper guide roll 9 the brushes pass between a pair of calenderrolls j, whlch serve to press the powder into the body of cement nearits surface and finish and hardensuch surface. Beyond the calendar rolls7' the cloth passes between apair of brushes m, which, like brushes'h,rotate oppositely. to the direction of travel of the rolls. Thesebrushes remove the loose excess of powder remaining on the surface ofthe cloth. Rolls 11., n, are merely feed -rolls which draw the fabricthrough the coating mechanism described. .The treatment of phehair-cloth is then practically 'clothimpregnatedwith a cementitioussubstance and a powdered solid substance superficially consolidatedwiththe cemencompleted, although it may be further dried.

In place of dusting the cement-impregnated cloth, with powder it may! be-coated with a liquid veneer as, for example, starch and water, buttheproduct is notquite: so

satisfactory.

The result of the described treatment is to produce the fabricdiagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 2, in whichthe weave is permeated,-more or less completely, by a cementitious substance having "acomparatively hard, smooth, thinsurface w and a comparatively softyielding interior w. The comparatively soft interior insures the desiredmaintenance ofthe' flexibility of the cloth and bindsthe hairssecurelyinposi tion while the hard smooth surface prevents any superficialstickiness and maintains the interior in the relatively soft conditionbest adapted to'hold the hairs from longitudinal movement. Y v

In using the term hair-cloth in the claims I desire itto be understoodas .comprising the ordinary hair-cloth of commerce or any variationsthereof present ing, when untreated, the conditions which it is thepurpose of my invention to elinilnate.

Having now fully: described my invention, what I claim 'and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is 1. As a new article of manufacture, haircloth and material applied thereto .providing an impregnating andrelatively soft cementitious interior and a relativelyhard surface: v

2. As a new article of manufacture,'hair cloth and material appliedthereto providing an impregnating and relativelysoft relativelycemerititious lnterior and a smooth non-sticky surface. 1 v V 3; As anew article of manufacture,"hair cloth impregnated with a tementitioussubstance and a substance applied to, and serving to superficiallyharden, the relatively soft cementi'tious substance; a 4;. As a newarticle ,of manufacture, hair cloth impregnated with a cementitioussubstance and. another substance su erficially pressed into thecementitious substance and uniting therewith to modify the exposedsurface of the'impregnating substance.

5. As a new article of manufacture, hair cloth impregnated with acementitious substance and another substance superficially face of theimpregnating substance relatively smooth and non-sticky.

6. As a new article of manufacture, hair cloth impregnatedwith acementitious subs titious substance.

8. As a new article 'of manufacture, hair cloth impregnated'withacementitious body in a relatively soft adhesive condition andsuperficial layers composed ofsa'ideementitious substance and a powderedsolid impregnated therewith; and providing a relatively smooth andhardprotective coating.

9. As a new article of manufacturefhair cloth impregnated with rubbercement and a substance applied to, and serving to superficially harden,the relatively soft cement.

' 10. As a new article of manufacture, hair cloth impregnated withrubber cement and a substance-a plied to the surface of the cementedfabric and rendering it rela tively smooth and. non-sticky.

11. As a new article of manufacture,

hair cloth impregnated withv rubber eement .havin "a coating of powderedsolid embedde therein.

12 As a new article -of -man ufacture, hair cloth impre ated with"rubber cement having an embe ded coatin of talc.

13. The process of finishing hair cloth which consists in'impregnatingthe same with a cementi'tious substance in solution and adapted to'still present when dried an adhesive surface, then dryingthe cementedfabric, and 'then coati both surfaces of the same-witha hardening andsmoothening substance.

'14. The process of finishing hair cloth which consists in impregnatingthe same with a cementitio-us substance in solution and adapted to stillpresent when dried an adhesive surface, then drying the cemented fabric,and then coating both surfaces of pressed into the .cernentitioussubstance and uniting therewith to render the exposed surthe same with apowdered solid, and then I compressing the same tov cause the powderedsolid to superficially impregnatethe treated fabric. 7 4

finishing hair cloth which consists in applying thereto a cementitioussubstance in solution and adapted to still presentwhen dried an adhesivesurface, then subjecting the fabric to pressure to effect more thoroughimpregnation by, and removal of excess of, the cementitious substance,drying the cemented fabric, and coating both surfaces of the cementedfabric to harden and smoothen the same.

16. The process of finishing hair cloth which consists in applyingthereto a cementitious substance in solution and adapted to stillpresent when dried an adhesive surface, subjecting the fabric topressure to efl ect a more thorough impregnation by and removal ofexcess of, the cementitious substance, drying the cemented fabric,coating In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, atPhiladelphia, on. this 10th day of July, 1915.

GEORGE S. COX.

